10 February 2006

Jill Carroll COMPLICIT in her own kidnapping--APOLOGY

I Was Wrong, I Am Sorry

I have been banging the drum with a theory about Jill Carroll's complicity. I am relieved that she is safe, heartened that she is not the type of person I thought, and quite happy to be wrong. To have been wrong, that is.

I should have given more leeway, more caution to the side of grace than I did in interpreting inconsistencies in her statements. Instead, I rushed to condemn a woman who had done nothing wrong, and to criticize an American caught in a hazardous position overseas rather than offer support.

Common sense dictates that the willingness to admit and repudiate mistakes is the "price of admission" for speaking of others in public. Apologies motivated by mechanical or procedural concerns, however, are worthless. Common decency requires that an apology be heartfelt, detailed, and conveyed as publicly, or more so, as the the offending incident.

I frankly hope that Jill Carroll and her family never see, or saw respectively, my remarks regarding Ms. Carroll. I am ashamed to have impugned the integrity of a woman in peril, far from her home, who had done me no wrong, from the comfort of my living room.

I apologize to Jill Carroll and her family.

Sincerely,

Haakon Bjoern Dahl

NOTE: Here is a link to my posted apology on LGF, where you will see that I post under my real name, and frequently mention this blog. LGF gets a lot more traffic than this blog, so I posted there first. The original post from this location has been moved down into the comments as a matter of record.

You anonymous commenters are quite correct; it has taken me a while to get to this post. I am replacing the post itself with a letter of apology, and putting the original post into the comments as a matter of record.

Kidnapped U.S. Reporter Appeals for Help

Is this a miserable hostage?

Are these the words of a desperate prisoner?

"I sent you a letter written by my hand, but you wanted more evidence," she said. "I am here. I am fine. Please just do whatever they want, give them whatever they want as quickly as possible. There is very short time. Please do it fast. That's all."

Or a bad actress over her head in a failing plot?I have no evidence. I cannot prove it. All I have so far is a hunch. But my powerful suspicion is this: Jill Carroll arranged her own kidnapping in order to direct assets toward her beloved terrorists.MORE TO FOLLOW...

[UPDATE] 23MAR2006 It has been well over a month since I wrote last on this, and very nearly a month since the 26FEB (2006) deadline passed with nary a sound. We have neither heard from nor seen the supposedly bloodthirsty criminals who allegedly abducted the purported journalist from her rumored job. I say (again, without a shred of evidence except that provided by common sense) that she and her "kidnappers" are wondering what to do now that nobody has come across with a single nickel in ransom money. I suspect that the ersatz kidnappers are still debating whether to kill her in earnest, to keep her quiet about their identity, because after all, she knows them very well--they arranged this charade. She might give them up anyway, because her driver was not supposed to die in this deal, but they shot him. A little added realism.BY THE WAY, if I am proven wrong, I will take this down at once. I do not wish to hide my mistakes, but it would be insulting to leave this up if something terrible happens to her. I do after all, hope that she is unharmed. Even if she is culpable in this, at one time, she was just another American girl. The problem is that I suspect she has gone over to the other side, and in a particularly nasty, manipulative way.

[UPDATE] 30MAR2006

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- -- The twin sister of kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll pleaded Wednesday for her captors to let her go and for anyone who has knowledge of her whereabouts to share it with authorities.

This is the first news I've seen about Jill Carroll in about two weeks which wasn't simply a sidelong mention of her in a story about some other hostages, notably the loathsome CPT human shield idiots. Interesting how quiet things are on the Jill Carroll front. I believe that this is a standoff between Jill and her co-conspirators who don't know what to say next, and the media who know what to say, but don't want to say it.Perhaps a more effective plea for the safe return of Jill Carroll would be to appeal to her sense of decency. "Jill Carroll, for the sake of your family, come home! The prosecutor will let you off if you accept probation!"

[UPDATE] 30MAR2006 WELL! Speak of the devil, and... today she is free. But her statements to the press don't add up:Was it one room or two?How can she have "no idea" if she was close to or far from Baghdad?How is it that she saw TV exactly once, and read a newspaper exactly once?[She is covering her bases in case she mentions something which she shouldn't otherwise have heard during her "captivity"]How did her room have a window but one through which nothing could be heard?[which lets her off the "describe what you heard" hook]If she was confined to one room with a bathroom in it, or one room plus a bathroom, how then did she share in the household chores?Why is it "still too early" to talk about this?[nobody so much as threatened her, RIGHT? She will try to let this die down as much as possible to limit her exposure to cross-examination].

Slowly, her facade will collapse. My guess is that people with professional skills have analyzed the videos and her statements, and have come to the conclusion I have. And will not let her off the hook.Today she says that she was never threatened. Then what "terrified" her into begging like this?

Please just do whatever they want, give them whatever they want as quickly as possible. There is very short time. Please do it fast. That's all.

I am glad she is safe, that is, that she was not in fact kidnapped and treated horribly or killed. However, it may be true that she was neither kidnapped nor treated horribly.

Free Kareem

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